(Reuters) - A
member of the Iranian parliament's National Security Committee said on
Monday that the military was set to practice its ability to close the
Gulf to shipping at the narrow Strait of Hormuz, the most important oil
transit channel in the world, but there was no official confirmation.

The legislator, Parviz Sarvari,
told the student news agency ISNA: "Soon we will hold a military
maneuver on how to close the Strait of Hormuz. If the world wants to
make the region insecure, we will make the world insecure."

Contacted by Reuters, a spokesman for the Iranian military declined to comment.